Germany and coal

Germany has substantial domestic coal mining operations, especially of lignite, for electricity generation and coke. It is also a significant importer of coal, predominantly for metallurgical uses. (In 2002 Germany imported 2.2 million tonnes of hard coal and 39 million tonnes of coke, coking coal and briquets. Only a very minor amount of lignite is imported).

Hard coal mining in Germany is centred in Ibbenbüren, the Ruhr and the Saar coalfields. In 200 the U.S. Geological Survey reports that approximately 25.6 million tonnes of anthracticte and bituminous coal was mined and a further 177 million tonnes of lignite.

Hard coal production is gradually declining as a result of the removal of subsidies makes resource extraction from deep underground mines unprofitable. However, the recent price spike for imported coal has raised the possibility that some mines slated for closure may be profitable without subsidies. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the subsidy for anthracite and bituminous coal was approximately $130 per metric ton in 2005.

In order to reduce reliance on imported oil and begin the phase-out of aging nuclear power stations, the German government has adopted a target of obtaining 20% of the country's energy share from renewables by 2020. It is expected that the bulk of this will be from wind projects and biomass. However, major power producers have also proposed a raft of new coal-fired power stations.

In June 2011 German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that for Germany to phase out nuclear power that it would need more coal plants. Currently there are over a dozen proposed coal plants in the country. However, Merkel stated that the country would still reach its carbon emissions limits.

Oct. 1, 2007: Greenpeace occupation at Boxburg plant construction site
Beginning October 1, 2007, 34 activists occupied the construction site of a new coal-fired power plant in Boxburg, in eastern Germany. The activists, 10 of whom remained camped atop cranes on the site for 60 hours, demanded that Vattenfall, the utility sponsoring the plant, stop building coal plants and instead invest in renewable energy. A giant banner hung from a crane read: "Vattenfall: Stop building! Climate protection instead of brown coal!" Six smaller banners reading "Stop CO2" hung from other cranes. 20 volunteers painted "Stop CO2" onto a smokestack under construction.

Coal Mining
The coal mining industry in Germany is dominated by two major producers, RAG Aktiengesellschaft which mines hard coal and RWE Power which mines lignite. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that based on 2006 data, RAG Aktiengesellschaft's mining subsidiary Deutsche Steinkohle AG employed approximately 35,000 staff and 5,572 of RWE Power's 18,700 employees worked in mine production activities.

The USGS lists:


 * Deutsche Steinkohle AG, a wholly owned subsidiary of RAG Aktiengesellschaft as operating the G West, Lohberg/Osterfeld, Walsum, Lippe, Augusta Victoria/Blumenthal, Ost and Prosper-haniel mines in the Ruhr region, North Rhine-Westphalia, with a combined annual capacity of 18 million tonnes of hard coals. The company also operates the Saar Mine, Saar Basin, Saarland with an annual capacity of 6 million tonnes of hard coal and the Ibbenbüren Mine in the Steinfurt District, North Rhine Westphalia with an annual capacity of 2.1 million tonnes of hard coal.


 * RWE Power's Aktiengesellschaft operates the Bergheim, Garzweiler, Inden, and Hambach open-cut mines in the Rhenish mining area with an annual capaicty of 105 million tonnes of lignite;


 * Vattenfall Europe Mining AG also operates the Jänschwalde, Schwarze Pumpe, and Boxberg open cut mines mines in Lausatian mining area with an annual capacity of 60 million tonnes of lignite.

Germany will shut down its last eight "black coal" underground mines by 2018, according to a plan approved in 2007 by Angela Merkel's government. The phaseout, which does not affect Germany's "brown coal" surface mines, will be reviewed by parliament in 2012. Seven of the mines are located in Rhine-Westphalia, and one is located in the Saarland. The plan has been approved by German mining conglomerate RFG, which intends to refocus itself on real estate, power generation, and chemicals. It has also been approved by the Social Democratic party and by Germany's mining union. The agreement was favored by Germany's conservative parties, which looked forward to ending the 2.5 million-Euro subsidy received by the underground mining sector. Under the arrangement, the subsidy will continue until the mines are finally closed. The phaseout will eliminate 35,000 mining jobs; jobs in the underground mining sector had already declined from 166,000 in 1985. At its peak in 1957, the sector employed 607,000 miners.

Coal reserve revisions
As late as 2004, Germany's "proved recoverable" reserves of hard coal were stated as being 23 billion tons. That year, the World Energy Council's "Survey of Energy Resources" reclassified 99% of those reserves as speculative and reduced the estimate to 183 million tons. The German government's own estimate of proved reserves in 2005 was 161 million tons.

Reserves of lignite, the lowest grade of coal, were also downgraded by the World Energy Council from a previous estimate of 43 billion tons in 2002 to 6.6 billion tons in 2004.

German coal reserves in 2010 were six times larger than 2009. German coal reserves were 40.7 billion tons, compared with 6.7 billion tons, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

Lignite
Despite the newly lowered estimates of reserves, Germany is responsible for one-third of the lignite mined worldwide and is the leading producer.

Coal-fired power stations financed by international public investment institutions
Coal-fired power stations financed by international public investment institutions include:


 * Rheinhafen Power Station, Germany
 * Schkopau II power station, Germany
 * Schwarze Pumpe power station, Germany
 * Walsum 10 Power Station, Germany

Proposed New Coal Power Stations
Due to the number of proposed new coal-fired power stations in Germany, the full listing has been moved to a side page. See Coal power plant proposals in Germany.

States oppose mandatory CCS law
On Sep. 27, 2010, the German government moved to approve new rules that would require states to allow the construction of test facilities for underground carbon capture and storage (CCS). But leaders in two German states - Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony - expressed their opposition to the legislation, and said they would oppose the draft legislation from Chancellor Angela Merkel's government in the Bundesrat, Germany's upper legislative chamber representing the 16 regional states.

Initially, German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen had told state leaders that they would have the fundamental right to reject the construction of the gas storage facilities. But in a recent answer to an inquiry by Oliver Krischer, a member of the federal parliament with the Green Party, the Federal Environment Ministry said the states' powers regarding carbon storage facilities would be limited to the plan-approval procedures. Krischer accused Röttgen of failing to follow through with his pledge: "As we saw with the nuclear deal (to delay the country's planned nuclear phaseout and extend the life spans of atomic power plants), there is a danger the environment minister will come out a loser in this major energy policy project, as well."

Starting in 2013, under the European Union emission trading scheme, any company emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere will be required to purchase certificates in order to do so. The rules are part of the EU's goal of sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the continent. Like nuclear energy, the current German government views CO2 capture and storage as a technology to meet EU requirements ostensibly until the country can transition to a mix based entirely on renewable energy. Close to half of Germany's power generation currently comes from coal. The most attractive sites geologically for CO2 gas storage facilities are in the northern part of the country. But resistance is growing in states like Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony, and government leaders there fear there that local residents will stage mass protests.

Lifecycle analysis of carbon capture and storage in Germany

 * Peter Viebahn, Joachim Nitsch and Manfred Fischedick, Comparison of Carbon Capture and Storage with Renewable Energy Technologies in the Year 2020 by Way of a Life Cycle and a Cost Assessment,, Institute of Technical Thermodynamics, undated. (PDF file)
 * Peter Viebahn, Joachim Nitsch, Manfred Fischedick, Andrea Esken, Dietmar Schuwer, Nikolaus Supersberger, Ulrich Zuberbuhler, Ottmar Edenhofer, "Comparison of carbon capture and storage with renewable energy technologies regarding structural, economic, and ecological aspects in Germany" Int. J. Greenhouse Gas Control (2007). (PDF file)

Germany wants to prolong subsidies for loss-making coal mines until 2018
In November 2010, the European Union Parliament supported Germany in saying that subsidies to loss-making coal mines should not be phased out until the end of 2018. The European Commission, the EU bloc's executive, had said in July 2010 that uncompetitive mines should be closed off by October 15, 2014, arguing that subsidies were bad for the environment and fair competition. But Germany, which would be heavily affected by the plan, said that following the timeline would "compromise the competitiveness of its coal industry and cost too many jobs." EU lawmakers - in a report drafted by a German Social Democrat - backed that line of argument during a plenary meeting in Strasbourg, France, saying they "regard the deadline proposed by the commission for the closure of coal mines ... as arbitrary."

Deputies said that while their view on the matter were only 'consultative,' they had sent "a strong political signal to the council (of EU states) that extending the deadline for state aid is indispensable to the future of about 100,000 coal miners and other staff." Most subsidized mines in the EU are located in Germany's Ruhr region, the Jiu river valley in Romania, and in north-western Spain. Both Germany and Romania rely on coal-fired power stations for about 40 per cent of their electricity. EU states are expected to decide on the matter on December 10, 2010.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Global use and production of coal
 * Australia and coal
 * Britain and coal
 * China and Coal
 * Europe and coal
 * Indonesia and coal
 * Japan and coal
 * New Zealand and coal
 * South Africa and coal
 * United States and coal

External resources

 * "Coal Mine Methane Emission Offsets," Chicago Climate Exchange, undated, accessed June 2008.
 * U.S. Geological Survey, Germany, U.S. Department of the Interior, accessed June 2008. (This provides links to an annual summary on the mining industry in Germany for each year between (and including) 1994 and 2005).
 * RWE, "Factbook: Generation Capacity in Europe", June, 2007, pages 42-45.